Shadowbox Coupe - Final Update before Completion

[Duntov]

WOW.....I like the headers a lot.......the whole thing is progressing very nicely!!!! Keep moving along!!!!!

On a different note......being a Portland native.....it would be neat to find this car....the real one......dreaming of course but you never know!!!! At least this one will exist in the end!!!!

Regards

Bill (Duntov)

[Fletch]

Thank you all for your words of encouragement on this build. It has been a learning and growing experience if nothing else.

The front fenders are completed and along with the grille surround are now painted, they will get clear coated in the morning and then we're pretty much at time to get this puppy assembled. The bicycle fenders were cut from the spare tire cover from the Revell '37 Ford Panel, they are aprox 1/3 of the cover with the center trimmed out to the proper size and shape. They will be mounted to the brake backing plates with Detail Associates (Model RR) flat brass wire.

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There are a couple of things that time permitting might get changed. The ALCLAD on the valve covers just is not what I envisioned it to be, so there is a very good chance they will repainted with Testors Stainless Steel Buffing Metalizer to at least give a bit of a shine to them. Also, the other thing that will most likely get addressed is the interior floor boards. The .005 K&S Aluminum works great for the transmission and drive shaft tunnel but is a bit to thin for the actual floor boards. Floating around the work shop I have a couple of sheets of .010 Birch veneer that should work quite nicely for the floor boards in the couple.

On to final assembly, starting in the morning.

Thank you again, your comments and input are always valued.

[jedimastergary]

nice one looks good so far

[Jon Carr]

It's looking good!

Edited March 24, 2010 by Jon Carr

[horsepower]

Oh,cool. Yeah mine isn't going to be exact, like the front hubcaps are 53 stude

Those "caps" are available from Modelhaus, they are '57 Plymouth caps, these were quite popular in the early '60s.

Edited March 25, 2010 by horsepower

[Gary Davis]

Man Dave...this puppy is REALLY looking cool! You're doing some mighty fine scratch building here bud(as usual). I hope to see this,(I know I will) this weekend in Portland. I guess I'd better finish the three builds I've got going...eh??

[Fletch]

Man Dave...this puppy is REALLY looking cool! You're doing some mighty fine scratch building here bud(as usual). I hope to see this,(I know I will) this weekend in Portland. I guess I'd better finish the three builds I've got going...eh??

Thanks Gary, it is somewhat doubtful that the coupe will be 100% completed before Saturday morning. There has been more life this past week then building time. There has been to much time and effort invested in this build to rush it now and managed to screw it up. So, the Bob Paeth Portland Classic Model Car Contest is the middle of April at the Portland Roadster Show and the Coupe will make it's debut there instead of this weekend. It will be there Saturday just not completed.

See you there.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Fletch

[Fletch]

As the new tease indicates the final assembly is underway. The couple of things that I wasn't real happy with, the floor boards and the valve cover paint have been addressed and changed. The floor boards are now 1/64" birch plywood, I feel it is a bit more period correct. The sheet aluminum for the transmission and drive shaft tunnel are still in place. The forward piece of the trans tunnel still needs shaped other wise that portion of the build is complete.

The engine wiring is completed and the 6X2 manifold is in place ready to be drilled for the carbs to be added. This will end up being the longest part of the final assembly what with bending and fitting the fuel lines to the carbs, but with the use of anodized wire it will be worth the effort.

I removed the same amount from the bottom of the seat as the door panels which in reality is a bit to much, so the seat will get a couple of riser blocks underneath to bring it back up about .060. The edges in the center of the seat that was cut for clearance for the drive shaft tunnel need to be dressed up with a file then it to should be finished. Which leaves the dashboard and petals as the parts of the interior to be completed.

Went with the wife to the fabric store and found a faux leather cloth that is extra thin, it cuts nicely with a standard paper cutter. Rolled it up to represent the roof insert rolled back and strapped down for a day out cruising. I may go back and cover the seat and interior panels with this 'leather', not 100% sure on that just yet.

I tried several different taillight treatments on the coupe including the RMoM '41 Studebaker, Revell's round taillights from the '32 Ford 5 Window coupe and didn't like how they sat or looked. I grabbed the misc taillight box and found these, they are from the Ala-Kart, they're a little bit custom and a little bit '58 Biscayne.

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There is where the we are early this Friday morning. The PNW Model Car Fest is about 40 hours away, if I gave up sleeping, eating, drinking and all other normal bodily functions it might get done in time. But, with the amount of time and effort invested in the build, waiting and using the next 2 weeks to finish before the next show sound a lot more sane.

Stay tuned, and as always your comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Peace

[Fletch]

Now that the Jairus Watson Artwork Challenge is well underway I can get back to finishing the Shadowbox Coupe. The intake manifold was in place and ready for the carbs when the topic was last updated. The headers were complete as well and waiting to be attached to the heads.

A fuel distribution was needed for the 6 carbs that will top the manifold. A 3/8" piece of .047 Evergreen round stock was used with 6 holes across the top and 1 in the end.

The carbs were center drilled to allow .028 brass wire to be inserted to keep them from getting knocked off the manifold. Each carb was drilled to accept a piece of .015 (26 gauge) plastic coated bead wire to represent the fuel line. The carbd were painted ACLAD II Gold Titanium.

The scavenger scoops for the carbs were painted using ALCLAD II Chrome over their Black Base.

I like so many have had marginal success with ALCLAD's Chrome until this time. I used their Gloss Black Base (AC305) and must admit that a reasonable "Chrome" finish can be achieved using their products together.

It's actually starting to feel like this build is on the way to completion. A alternator/generator bracket needs to be built and the fender braces need to be put in place. The Headlight brackets are bent and in place. Parts by Parks King Bee head lights will be added once the brackets are painted.

The dashboard will have the pedals suspended from it they should be in place tomorrow or Thursday. The last piece of assembly will be the link from the cowl steering eccentric to the drivers side drag link.

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Hopefully the next entry will be in the Under the Glass section.

Thank you for following along and your words of encouragement and suggestions.

Dave aka 'Fletch'

Edited April 14, 2010 by Fletch

[Dr. Cranky]

Looking perfect. It's almost done. Keep it going.

[Fletch]

The Shadowbox Coupe is on hold for a couple of days as I've found another source for Stromberg 97 carbs that are superior to the ones that are on the manifold in the earlier photos. I figure with as much time and effort that has gone into this build it deserves only the best.

We'll be back to building on the Coupe in the next couple a days and have it completed shortly.

[Fletch]

Donnie, you are correct the seats do appear to be some type of bucket seat. The grille surround is of a different color and actually appears to have a stripe down the middle of it. Another things about the 1:1 coupe is that chances are it didn't have over the frame headers as I added, but it's one of those things you can't tell from the photo. There are so many things that aren't seen in the single poor quality photo that it would be almost impossible to build a 100% correct replica of the Coupe. That being said a little artistic license isn't a bad thing. I think on a build like that if you manage to capture the essence of the era and the car itself you've done pretty good.

As to where the build is tonight, I'm in the process of rebuilding the fuel distribution block, after replacing the Carbs the block needed replaced as well. The progress on the build has been slowed by my finally getting back to work following an 18 month layoff. What a silly idea letting a paycheck get in the way of modeling time. I am hoping to get it completed before Saturday morning as the club I belong to does a large display at the first major cruise in of the season and I'd love to have it there for all to see.

[Chuck Most]

She's a beauty so far, and I expect she'll be even better looking completed!

[W-409]

Huh, how is this coming along? Maybe the coolest Hot Rod project on this forum, but no updates for long time...